Coach Canales Recaps Week 8 & Provides Injury Updates | Panther Talk | Carolina Panthers

Coach Canales Recaps Week 8 & Provides Injury Updates | Panther Talk | Carolina Panthers

Welcome to Panther Talk Monday, October 27th. Anish, Jim, Zoki, Eugene Robinson, and the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Dave Canales. Dave, tough one on Sunday against the Bills that just kind of seemed like things snowballed. But, uh, you know, the one area that we noticed early, um, and we we’ll probably see more of this, teams want to run away from Derek Brown. What What’s kind of the the counter punch now that you guys have to make the adjustment? Yeah, just making sure we’re all tied in together along the front. Uh forcing runs to to make sure that they go laterally. Thought they found some vertical seams. Let’s give credit to the Bills uh and the uh the run game that they came out there with. And James Cook had a special day and uh they did a great job of game planning it, but you know, the the adjustment is we got to make sure that we’re closing those gaps on the backside and all showing up and uh getting the guy down. you know, making our tackles and all the fundamentals and things that we’ve been, you know, really improving on and uh returning to that is going to be about getting back to practice and and making sure we understand like this is a different type of attack and this is a copycat league and we’re going to see that again. So, let’s make sure that we’re ready for it. Coach, is it as easy as just getting into a eight-man front and trying to compensate for being an eightman front to take away some of that lateral movement that they were doing? That’s an adjustment that you can make. And also, you got to understand Josh Allen’s the quarterback back there. And uh you know when you when you go single high and load up the box you know and you have a talented quarterback that way you know there’s um I like the way that our scheme is is varied and it’s been working with success. So we just got to shore up some of the things and make sure we fit it and team tackle. Uh even though it was a negative a month ago when New England happened. You guys go on a three-game win streak after that. The fact that this team this year has come back from that kind of a performance and been able to to rebound and play well, does that give you further confidence that you can quickly bounce back in a game like next week? Yes. and and um you know four weeks ago we had a leadership council meeting and we met at the beginning of the year four four games go in uh we lose at New England and come back and have another leadership council meeting and talked about what it’s going to require uh to play the type of football that we want to be about stopping the run being able to run the ball eliminating explosives and taking care of the ball and um when you look at that you know and we have this group meeting on this day um they look at each other and they say hey the last time we were here. This is how we did it. Get back to the basics, attention to detail, making sure we’re working on our technique and fundamentals, team tackling, and offensively taking care of the ball um to make sure that we give us good complimentary football. And um there was a level of confidence that we can get that done again. Can we make it tangible enough where these are things we can actually work on um on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to improve our football? Coach, I I want to talk about something that I I I remember Mike Hongram doing when it was something that was so uncharacteristic of our defense or of our offense. He would come in on a Monday and go like this, you know what? We’re not going to even watch the film because this is not you. You know, this is not you. Did you ever even entertain maybe something like that when you looked at your defense and go this is not my defense the way they play because they’ve been playing much better than what this is? Yeah, and that’s what we did. you know, today we we, you know, told the players that we weren’t going to have our normal tell the truth Monday meetings. We’ll we’ll review the things with them, but um at the same time, you know, today was about the staff looking at the last four games, what has been successful for us, what are the things that aren’t working for us, and being able to move forward uh with our best foot forward. So, you know, we’re we’re moving on to the Packers now, and when they show up Wednesday, that that’ll be what it’s about. Coach, the offensive line was um an area of depth going into the season. guys have been tested there. As of right now, Monday, what’s the state of the offensive line in terms of who’s available? Yeah, well, the good news is Chandler Zavala’s window opens up uh for return this week. So, um as long as we feel confident in him physically, um I’m so glad he’s here. I’m so glad that we have another option to go to at guard, losing Brady Christensen, you know, and uh for the year and gives me a chance to just talk about what Brady has meant to us. I mean, you talk about a guy that played really six spots. He’s played the tackle, guard, center, and was our big tight end uh primarily last year. Um a guy who shows up. He doesn’t say a lot. Um but he loves to be out there. He has he has a lot of fun with his teammates and um and really has just been a selfless guy and says whatever you need me to do, I’ll go do it. And uh you know, has played with great energy and has really, you know, been a a pivotal piece to what we’re doing. And along the lines of it’s Monday and you will know much more in midweek, but with Bryce Young as we sit here today, what’s your optimism level as far as looking into next weekend? Yeah, he had a great session today in return to play um ran around some and so we’re going to take it day by day and the goal is to get him out there Wednesday and see what he can do um in some different modified team settings and um and hopefully we can get him out there on Sunday. But again, we’re going to have to keep it dayto-day and make sure we make the right decision for Bryce’s, you know, long-term health, you know, um, with his ankle and then also what’s best for the team. And might we see even more so of Jimmy Horn? I I don’t know why I’m just a big fan of the speed and and what he brings. Even when you put when he’s, you know, doing a jet sweep or you throwing the ball in back, he just he’s explosive. Very explosive. Yeah, I’m glad you brought up Jimmy. He’s doing an excellent job and his his role grows every week, too. um in terms of how we’re able to utilize him in the past game and you know I think about one of the first uh third downs of the game and we just missed him on a corner route you know and was it was he got open um we count on guys when they play manto man it’s just it’s you on him and speed wins he stuck his foot in the ground and gave us a surface and you know Andy just missed the throw but he continues to grow um he’s a tough guy and he gives us a lot of uh the speed element you talk about the jet sweeps you know really opens up whether we give it to him or not you know just some different things offensively Dave, with the running back situation, you have to take the Goodier blimp aerial view and you’ve seen Chuba Hubard rush for almost 1,200 yards. You know what he’s about. You know what he means to the locker room and then you’ve watched Rico Dowel really take advantage of some of these opportunities. So, what changes? What stays the same in terms of how you manage that running back room going forward? I think you said it best. um I can’t really describe the situation um better than what you said and you know honoring the fact of what of what I know about Chuba and then honoring the fact of what we all have seen Rico do and how he’s impacted the game. So um that continually is on me to make the decision to make sure we’re putting the guys out there in the different roles to impact this team to win, you know, and ultimately that’s what it comes down to, you know. So those are conversations we’re having today and and tomorrow that we’re going to have to work through and and decide how we move forward. Tedo McMillan almost 100 yards again yesterday and halfway through his rookie season. Has he been everything and more than you thought he might be when you drafted him? Absolutely. And the things that I didn’t know about him, you know, because we just didn’t have a lot of time to spend with him, but the way that he goes about his work, the way that he bounces back from, you know, a slower day or if a guy’s frustrating him in a game, the way he comes back out in the next series to attack and to compete. um it’s the competitor um that I’m learning a lot about the resilience that he has and those are the things that were are really special that you can kind of guess based on what you see on film, but you really don’t know until you see him work day in and day out. And so I’m really pleased with where he’s at. Another thing that goes maybe a little bit unnoticed is that the wide receivers blocking downfield a lot downfield to also spring when we talk about Chuba, we talk about Rico, you don’t get all those yards just because you’re getting those yards. A lot of people have to be blocking and your your receivers are coming through. Absolutely. It’s all 11. Everyone’s got a contribution and that’s the quarterback included getting us to the right run and then finishing on your boots after you hand the ball off because we set up all of our play actions off of those runs. And and you know, if you’re coming out differently after the exchange, the backside defensive end, he can tell the difference. And so we have to make sure that we marry those things up. And it’s a constant reminder. It’s tempting, you know, when the guy starts to get rolling and quarterback wants to look back and see his running back go to work. But we got to carry out those fakes and and do all those things. But everybody has a contribution. Coach, one of the other young guys who’s been flashing Nick Scorton sacks and back-to-back games. How has he progressed through the first eight weeks? I love Nick. Uh love what he’s been about. He’s a another guy that’s really focused um a young pro and about the way he works, his attention to detail. He gets football and he’s just improving. He’s scratching the surface in terms of his his tool bag for his rush package and the things um of that nature and he plays physical at the point of attack and the run game as well. Um 100 miles an hour, that’s who we drafted. We drafted that type of effort that he keeps showing up with, but we’re learning a lot more about the the football sense and savvy that he has. Uh Green Bay, we’ll get into the game itself a little bit later this week, but going to Lambeau Field, are you kind of a football historian as far as just the appreciation of going to places like that that exist when you’re in this line of work to be able to play in a place like that? Absolutely. I think it’s very important as we go around the league and we’re able to play in different stadiums that have been around for a long time that we appreciate uh the historical meaning uh the the the amazing games played, the the amazing players, the Hall of Famers that have come out of there. Um it’s important we take all that in and it’s also important that we say, “Okay, this is a great moment. Now, this field is 53 and a third wide. It’s 100 yards long. There’s a great opponent over there on the other side. Can I be focused?” Um but I don’t want them to miss it. I want to make sure that they understand uh the historical significance to our game of this place and also to make it another game and uh to go out there so we can execute. When you take a cursory look at the Green Bay Packers, what jumps off the screen uh to you as you see getting ready to prepare for this game? I see a head coach Matt Lafleur who’s done a great job over the course of years now establishing a mentality of how to play football. He’s got the players trained the way that he wants them. This is a really talented young skill group on the offensive side of guys who who Jordan Love has grown with and taught them what he’s looking for in different ways. You can tell by the speed of play. Um the way that they react to the scramble response, the way that they they’re attacking and they hit their motions, the timing and all those things are are are excellent. Um you throw in Josh Jacobs into that mix and it’s a it’s a a very um the run game has a lot to it. There’s some nuances to it. Um and there’s still the toughness that they have. you know, you flip on the defensive side, it’s a really tough group. It’s um it’s an attacking front. They like to blitz, of course, using Micah Parsons in different ways. Rashawn Garry, he looks awesome. He just continues to get better um throughout his career and some really athletic linebackers. So, um this is a really complete team. This is a great opportunity for us to play our best on the road. Um to make sure that we’re focused and locked in to to the different things that they’re going to try to stress us with. Coach, there’s been a resiliency to this team um over the second half of last year and even the first half of this year. When you kind of dive into the DNA of the culture of what the Carolina Panthers are, where do you feel that that resiliency has grown from? It’s just proving to each other what we can be when we do right, when we count on each other. It’s accountability. Um it’s toughness. It’s selflessness. It’s going out there and doing your job, not looking for the big splash play, but letting it come to you. Um, it’s the fundamentals of football, returning to work, and it’s always going to be centered on that. It’s always going to be rooted in the effort that we put in, the focus, um, celebrating each other, making sure that we celebrate the wins, um, as they come to us. Um, and also just caring about the little things, caring about, you know, situational, uh, football and the different things that we challenge the guys with through the week and walkthroughs. um stressing them in different situations. Even just looking at the I know we missed the field goal. Um we’re not expecting to have a sack in that situation at the end of half, but Tracy Smith had the guys ready for a possible situation, a money situation is what we call it. And you know, it’s improbable, but the sack happened. We got out there, we lined up, we executed the snap, we didn’t get the kick, but it’s those type of scenarios that we that coach George Lee and myself that we expose our players to. But it’s all those things that we try to pride ourselves on and we want to just continue to push our football forward with that type of toughness and resilience. It’s a good place to leave it unless Anishh you have a Halloween question you I mean listen it’s it’s let’s head down a light note here. He want to know them candy bars. Which kind of candy bars you got going on? What are we doing for candy? Has Lizzy picked out the candy or do you pick out the candy? Oh Lizzy certainly does. You know it’s it’s the assorted chocolates. you know, it’s it’s all the Snickers and Milk Duds and Baby Ruths and um Milky Ways and all those things that you can think of. And um you know, as far as uh as far as our Halloween costume, you know, I I got a snapshot of it on the phone. And it looks like we’re going to be an old school baseball team, which we have four kids, so we’re almost there. You know, there’s six of us. Need a couple uh couple more. Uh maybe suit up a couple of our animals that we have at the house, too. But but it’s going to be a throwback style, something like what you would see on like League of Their Owned. So, um, I’m the man. You sound like you had a lot of say in this. I I did not. I did not. I’m showing up. I’m going to be the manager that also gets to pitch and maybe hit a little bit. So, player manager Dave Canalis. Dave, thank you. All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you very much. You’re listening to the Carolina Panthers Radio Network. [Music]

Dave Canales joins Anish Shroff, Jim Szoke and Eugene Robinson on “Panther Talk” to recap the Panther’s home loss to the Bills, provide several key injury updates, discuss how to handle the running back situation in Carolina, and so much more!

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